Flame Lily News and Views

Zimbabwe Government Pensions

FLF National Secretary, John Redfern, had a telephone conversation with the Director of Pensions, Sylvester Mnkandla, on 12 January. Mnkandla said many of his staff were still on leave, so there had been little progress since the first batch of 524 completed forms from the FLF reached him in December. Although he said that the new Widow’s application form is now available and would be sent to the FLF, none has yet arrived. The second batch of completed forms (as many as could be accepted for the Zimbabwe Embassy’s diplomatic bag) was sent to the Pensions Office on 29 January.

Another batch has been held over for the next dispatch. We have had requests for several Certificate of Life and Banking forms from pensioners who have been widowed since pension payments ceased. We will deal with these as soon as we have the new Widow’s application form. We know of two individuals who have received letters from the Pensions Ombudsman, saying that pension payments to non-resident pensioners were expected to resume shortly. However, there appear to be at least two obstacles that have to be overcome before this happens. One is selection and approval for a specific agency to receive amounts for electronic transfer thereafter to individual pensioners, as is currently done by Crown Agents for Federal pensions. The Pensions Office has confirmed that RBZ authority is not needed for the payment of Zimbabwe Government pensions outside the country. (Some other pension funds have already started paying their members outside Zimbabwe.)

We have already received completed documents from an estimated one-third of all Zim government service pensioners living in South Africa. Only when we see some results, will we move to the next phase.

Payment can be made into a pensioner’s non-resident bank account in Zimbabwe, on request to the Pensions Office. However, it is then up to the account holder to arrange the transfer of funds, which incurs considerable bank charges and/or commission at both ends.

The FLF office will be closed until 8 January 2010. Only urgent matters or emergencies will be dealt with until then. Most of the completed forms and related documents received from Zimbabwe government pensioners by 25 November have been sent to the Pensions Office in Harare.

Assistance to Zimbabwe government pensioners will resume in January. Forms for completion by South African residents can then be obtained by sending a stamped return-addressed envelope to the FLF, or as an email attachment, on request.

Flame Lily Foundation
PO Box 95474
0145 Waterkloof

Tel: 012 4602066
Fax: 086 6484794
Email: rasa@iafrica.com

The Zimbabwe Government’s Director of Pensions approached the Flame Lily Foundation (FLF) in April 2009, asking if we could assist the Pensions Office to reach pensioners in South Africa, in anticipation of pensionpayments being resumed. The exercise for this was started in October. The FLF works closely with OSPA (the Overseas Service Pensioners Association) in the UK, who are doing a similar exercise for pensioners other than those living in South Africa.There are two forms that must be completed before pension payments can be resumed, as follows:

• Certificate of Life;

• Bankers Automated Clearing Service.

These forms are obtainable as PDF attachments from the FLF. Email: rasa@iafrica.com.

You should also attach to the Certificate of Life a note giving:

• your date of entry into Government service;

• your date of retirement from that service;

• your job title, rank or grade in which Department at time of your retirement.

The Pensions Office has asked that you should also submit a certified copy of your National Registration metal card issued in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, or of your passport (the page with your photograph), regardless of nationality. Please DO NOT send a copy of your South African ID. Please return completed forms, together with associated documents, to the FLF office by post (scanned or faxed copies are NOT acceptable).

If you are a widow, and were not in receipt of a Widow’s Pension before pension payments ceased in 2003, you will also need to complete a new four-page application form, and provide two certified copies each of your marriage certificate and your late husband’s death certificate. The new form should be available in 2010.The FLF has agreed to receive completed documents and to send them on by secure means to the Government Pensions Office in Harare. We anticipate a cut-off date of 30 November 2009, after which it may be up to individual pensioners to deal direct with the Pensions Office, unless we resume the exercise in 2010.I regret we cannot engage in continuing exchange with pensioners unless they are FLF members.

Note: If you are not a member of the FLF you may not be aware that the FLF has been in direct contact with the Director of Pensions since 1999, to assist pensioners who are FLF members with their queries and various pension problems. After pension payments ceased altogether in 2003, the FLF established the Zimbabwe Pensioners Association (ZPA) to address the situation. This resulted in Project Grateful Gran, whereby pensioners considered to be in greatest need of assistance now receive quarterly grants. Those who were employed by Government prior to 11 November 1965 (other than military pensioners), are receiving grants from the OSPBS (Overseas Service Pensioners Benevolent Society) through the FLF.

On 6 April 2009, the FLF received an email from the Zimbabwe Director of Pensions, in which he wrote as follows: “We now have an inclusive Government trying to put things back to normal. In the event that the situation indeed returns to normal and we are once again in a position to pay pensioners resident outside of Zimbabwe their pensions, would your organisation be in a position to assist us re‑establish contact with pensioners in South Africa?”

We responded by asking how we might help, and we await further advice from Zimbabwe. In anticipation of pension payments coming on line again, the FLF has updated the Zimbabwe Pensioners Association (ZPA) questionnaire for pensioners, which can be accessed on our website, under Services. Any Zimbabwe pensioner living in South Africa who has not yet sent us their pension details is invited to register with the ZPA. Those who have provided their particulars since the database was established in 2004 are asked to notify us of any changes that might since have occurred, such as change of address or death of a spouse. This information should be addressed to the ZPA at our address on the ZPA page under Services.

In addition to assisting the Zimbabwe government pensions office, the FLF is willing to assist other Zimbabwe pension funds to reach their members in South Africa. We have made contact with Old Mutual’s Pencare and are pleased to publish their response, as follows:

“We anticipate to resume all pension payments for locals and non‑residents in June 2009 provided they furnish with our requirements. The non‑residents who had emigrated formally through commercial banks should not furnish us with a local FCA. We will pay them through the banks that handled their emigration formalities.”

By Eddie Cross 

In the late 90’s the Government of Zimbabwe held a conference on land reform in Zimbabwe.  Broad agreement was reached between the State, the stakeholders and international aid agencies but the agreement was never implemented.  Two years later, in an attempt to destroy the opposition base on commercial farms, the State began what it eventually called the “Fast Track Land Reform” exercise.

They justified this programme to the rest of the world by arguing that they were redressing historical injustices and racial imbalances in the ownership of the land.  The reform programme ignored the legal situation prevailing in respect to farm ownership and it also ignored the issue of fair and reasonable compensation for assets taken over by the State.

The legal position was quite straight forward - commercial farmers held full freehold title and in over 80 per cent of cases, also held a “certificate of no interest” issued by the Zimbabwe government allowing them to buy the farms on the open market after 1980.  Such a requirement was mandatory - in order to enable the State to acquire the farms if they so wished, on a willing seller, willing buyer basis.  Some 3,8 million hectares of farmland was in fact acquired in this way since 1980.

Farmers holding both the title and the certificates held an unassailable legal right to the land and all improvements.  By so doing they held the right to receive in full, the market value of such assets when they were sold, less any bond obligations to banks.

In the following 8 years, thousands of farms were “acquired” with the regime changing the law every time a farmer or group of farmers secured legal judgements in their favour.  Eventually a group of farmers took their case to the SADC Legal Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia where they initially obtained a decision saying that they had the right to go to the Tribunal on the issue (the State had apposed the action) and subsequently secured a ruling in favour of the farmers - instructing the Government of Zimbabwe to protect the farmers legal rights.

One small group of affected farmers also enjoyed the protection of a “Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement” signed between the Government of Zimbabwe and the farmers home Government.  A group of farmers of Dutch origin who had invested after Independence and were protected by the BIPA took their case to the international Courts in the Hague.  Last week the highest legal tribunal in the world ruled in favour of the Dutch investors and granted them nearly 22 million dollars in compensation, payable in 90 days.

The attitude of the regime towards the farm acquisitions was quite straight forward.  They were “taking the farms” from their owners.  They simply went to a nominated agency or individual and obtained an “offer letter” which then allowed the “beneficiary” the right to take occupation.  No protection was afforded to the owner or his staff and no interference was permitted, as the operation was considered “political”.  In the majority of cases force was used - mainly in the form of groups of young, politically motivated thugs who acted on behalf of the “beneficiary”.  Once the owners and their senior staff had been evicted, the new farmers took occupation and took advantage of the assets and even standing crops and livestock on the farms.

Many elderly and outstanding farmers were evicted in this way - leaving some of them so traumatised that they never recovered.  One such farmer, Keith Harvey, was evicted from his cattle ranch in the midlands and subsequently went into a cationic coma for two years before he eventually died.  He was a former chairman of the Natural Resources Board and a life long conservationist.  A fine cattleman and a person of great integrity and commitment to the country of his birth.

But no estimate has yet been made of just what the disruption of commercial farms has cost us and I asked economists in the farming industry to let me have the numbers.  Even I was shocked by the statistics.  In 2000 the total output of the agricultural industry in Zimbabwe was 4,3 million tonnes of agricultural products worth at today’s prices US$3,347 billion.  This has declined to just over 1,348 million tonnes of products in 2009 worth US$1 billion - a decline of 69 per cent in volume and a decline of 70 per cent in value.

What is often not appreciated is that smallholder farmers have been just as badly affected by the collapse of the industry as the large scale commercial farmers.  Their production in the past season is estimated to have decline by 73 per cent over that achieved in the year 2000.  This is on top of the forced displacement and loss of employment for 250 000 people and their 1,3 million dependents on commercial farms.

Despite these stunning figures the farm invasions have continued with 480 incidents on remaining farms recorded since the GPA was signed in September last year.  Even those farms that were granted legal protection by the SADC Tribunal have been specifically targeted on a punitive basis by the elements that are carrying on with this illegal activity and in fact are openly defying the SADC decisions.  The international decision is enforceable and creates very significant challenges for the new Transitional Government. Estimates put the total value of potential legal claims at US$5 billion dollars, some 30 per cent more than current GDP.

It is quite clear that the reform programme pursued by the Zanu PF led regime since 1998 has been a costly failure.  This is demonstrated when it is appreciated that over 90 per cent of all production from commercial farms in the past season has emanated from the remaining large scale farmers who are now being disrupted.  There are reports that over half of all the farms taken over are in fact now derelict and abandoned.  Many of the individuals now “taking” farms are doing so for the third or fourth time.  The fact that sugar production in the lowveld, on highly developed irrigation estates, has declined by 35 per cent - almost all of the decline outside of the control of the core Estates of Triangle and Hippo is due to illegal land occupations.

It is time to accept that the past policies on land have been a failure and that it is time to rethink and to put policies in place that will give all farmers security and enable then to finance their operations properly.  Such policies cannot be implemented until the issue of the rights of farm owners is resolved and the issue of compensation addressed.  The combined costs of the folly of the land invasions are staggering - they include US$2,8 billion in international food aid on an emergency basis, nearly US$12 billion in lost agricultural production over 10 years and now a potential bill for US$5 billion in compensation - a total of US$20 billion dollars.

And now we are asking for billions of dollars to fix this self-inflicted damage - its bizarre.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 28th April 2009

By Eddie Cross 

Just how bad the situation is in the economy is not hard to see.  Banks are empty - no clients and often just one teller on duty.  Wholesalers are slowly getting back on their feet but stocks are pathetic and staff few and far between.  The streets are empty of traffic and in town you can park anywhere.

In the largest supermarket in my home district 20 till points stand empty - only one was working.  You do not have to book for a meal as most establishments are half empty.  People do not have the money to entertain.
Most factories are slowly starting to resume production but exporters are feeling the pinch as costs rise and export customers feel the global recession.

Several days a week we face power cuts, the water situation is hardly better and the roads are in a terrible state.  Prices are coming down but cash is in short supply and low incomes inhibit personal spending on everything except the basics.  Food is freely available but at a price and only in hard currency.  Two thirds of the population are on food aid from a variety of organisations funded by the international community.

Hotels are running at about 30 per cent occupancy - mostly foreign, as local tourism has dried up.  Investors are wary of the changes, fearing a collapse of the new government and a reversal to the old ways and Gono delinquency. He still struts the stage pretending to be a key player and this unnerves all business people except the corrupt cabal that is trying to hang onto what is left of their power and influence.  Not even our neighbours trust us to handle their money - the US$30 million sent to Zimbabwe by South Africa in December just vanished - we could have told them that would happen but they were not listening.

While the international community have responded rapidly to the needs of the new government - raising their input by 100 per cent in the first quarter of this year to over US$100 million per month, the region has responded in a pathetic and halfhearted way.  We asked them for US$1,5 billion in lines of credit and for US$500 million in essential budget support.  After two months we have had pledged US$30 million in aid from South Africa and US$70 million in a line of credit from Botswana.  Since we are in this top heavy, cumbersome marriage of convenience largely at the instigation of the region, we really thought they would feel some responsibility for making it work.

Instead they have sat on the sidelines for 7 months while Mugabe procrastinated and when he finally agreed to share power with the MDC, we were forced to accept a lopsided deal which bore little regard to our respective political strengths.  Even then they have stood back and watched as Mugabe has simply refused to keep his side of the bargain.  Two months into the transitional government and not a single significant problem has been resolved.

No wonder the world watches Africa and despairs.  Who can blame them when we cannot manage a simple exercise such as this one and do not put our own money where our mouth is.  SADC compounds the problem when they stridently call for “sanctions to be lifted” and for the international community to dig deeply into their overburdened fiscal reserves to find huge sums for our economic recovery.  In doing so they give the international community no recognition for their ongoing grant aid to Zimbabwe - now standing at nearly 5 billion dollars since 2000 in the face of insults and widespread flaunting of all the rules of good governance and respect for human rights and the rule of law.

The GPA promised media freedom - what has Mugabe delivered - a slight shift in the character of State propaganda?  They are still jamming international radio broadcasts, still banning the BBC and CNN still harassing and imprisoning local journalists.

The GPA promised a halt to the farm invasions and respect for the rule law.
Instead we have a rush of fresh invasions, more violence and intimidation.
The theft of private assets and crops and a total disregard for the highest legal opinion in the SADC.

The GPA promised a halt to political violence, respect for our freedoms of assembly and association.  Instead we have the continued detention of MDC activists, banned meetings and harassment of MP’s and local leadership.

The GPA promised that all major decisions and appointments would be carried out on a consensual basis and all that we have seen are repeated attempts by Mugabe to make decisions and appointments without consultation and agreement.

The GPA promised equity in government with a slight majority to the MDC in respect for its victory in the polls in March 2008.  Instead Mugabe insists on maintaining control of almost all key government functions and not a single State institution has seen its leadership reformed to reflect the new reality.

Under these circumstances can anyone blame everyone for being sceptical about this transitional arrangement?  What hope on earth has this got to yield a decent election in 2011, an election that will be respected by the international community?  Who can blame the major bilateral and multilateral financial agencies for their caution and reluctance to come to the party when it is clear that once there they will simply be abused and used?

Who can blame the business community - here and abroad, for being cautious about coming in and helping our recovery with their own money?  We have no right to expect to be trusted and until that changes there can be no progress.  If Zanu PF cannot see that and accept that so long as they behave like a rogue elephant, they will be treated as such and with every justification.  The main problem for everyone is that the innocent and the guilty suffer in this situation and the innocent in this deal can do very little about protecting their essential interests.

Today is Independence Day, Zimbabweans have very little to celebrate after 29 years of poor and corrupt government and now on top of all that, inept regional leadership.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 18th April 2009

The Joan Evans Gallery is being continuously added to. Go to the main menu on the home page, or click on the following to see the gallery:

http://www.flf-rasa.org/home/JoanEvans/JoanEvans.html

Here is a bit of history for admirers of Joan Evans’ work.

“I get an enormous amount of pleasure out of my work, and people seem to like my pictures:’ says the Rhodesian artist, Joan Evans, whose interest in painting “started, I think, when I was about two years old.”

Her talent continued to grow under the guidance of her father, Colonel Capell, a former Commissioner of Police, but as a child, Joan “never went to art school” and then “hadn’t much time for painting” during the first twenty-two years of her married life, which were spent on a farm in Bindura. Later, however, she began working in oils in Salisbury and her first exhi­bition was opened by the then Sir Godfrey Huggins in the State lottery Hall in 1953. A further exhibition in 1960 established her in the public eye and, since then, “people have got used to my style of painting and they particu­larly want me to do M’sasas because these are Rhodesian,” while her land­scapes have become symbolic too.

Although Joan Evans has her own studio in her home and works a nine to five day, her rapidly executed compositions are still drawn from life. Her husband has always been a “terrific help in driving me around and stopping by the hour” as she works on her sketches, which are later washed in with her characteristic water colours. On other occasions, her many visitors des­cribe their favourite scenes, and with the help of her twenty sketch books, imagination and the creation of an atmosphere, she reproduces these for her clients. Her pictures come in ten sizes and are in great demand in many parts of the world, including Hong Kong and Russia and particularly in Southern Africa. In addition, for the past sixteen years, Joan Evans has been painting ‘Scenes that are used by charities and eighty to one hundred thousand of these Christmas cards are sold annually.

Joan has been criticized for her “picture postcard approach,” but insists that she paints “as an ordinary person in the street sees a scene and not as an art connoisseur” and her work adorns many an office and home. The National Gallery of Rhodesia has bought a modern and a pen and wash of an old tree that she saw on the way to Malawi, but she is not keen to develop a new style, because “it’s not me.”

Mrs. Evans has had a remarkably successful art life, but she does have an’ ambition to paint a masterpiece and feels that .a picture showing Piggs Peak, in the Prime Minister’s home town of Selukwe, will turn out to be “something special.”

On a wider scale, she enjoys painting her own casual arrangements of “splashy flowers,” is “very fond of the sea and the Drakensberg.” Trees remain a favourite subject though, and she once sat in a paddock in the midst of ten bulls in order to paint a “super old, old fig tree.” Still finding that her “first pleasure is in going out into the bush” and with sixteen of her works hanging in the House of Assembly, Joan Evans, through her associations and her achievements, is one of Rhodesia’s ambassadors in oils.  Heather Jarvis

 Saturday evening 4 April 2009: -

“Police have just arrived on Mt. Carmel Farm - about 13 of them with guns.

Yesterday we had another invasion by a man called Chimambira [which is Shona for landmine].  He later said his name was Madangonda.  He arrived in a maroon Toyota Prado [reg no 743096 M] with about 10 others at approximately 3 pm.  He came straight into the main homestead through the kitchen door and said to Bruce Campbell that we had 5 minutes to get out and leave.

The last time invaders came through that door was 29 June 2008 when we were very badly assaulted by Gilbert Moyo and Simbarahe Zindoga and others and the house was looted before we were abducted. 

It was confirmed today that Gilbert Moyo has been let out of custody by the public prosecutor in very irregular circumstances despite having countless cases of assault, attempted murder, house break-in and theft vehicle theft etc.  against numerous white farmers in the district.  Not a single one of his trials has yet even commenced.  One of the weapons that he stole is still outstanding. 

I went to the police and spoke to Chief Inspector Manika [tel no.  0912 919665] and made a report to Cst.  Nikadzo.  He did not have a report received book so we drove around Chegutu looking for the Sergeant who had the keys for the room where the book was.  We did not find him but he eventually got the book and wrote the report in the book [RRB no.  0505651].

The workers told Chimambira that he could not come and invade the farm and evict us.  Chimambira had no papers but was purporting to be from Nathan Shamuyarira’s office.

Chief Inspector Manika said he would come to sort the problem out.  I saw him at Gadzema 6 km from the farm in a pale blue pick-up [reg.  no.  ZRP 159E ].  He said he would be coming shortly.

When he did not appear I phoned him and he told me that he had got information that the maroon Prado had come to Chegutu which was why he did not attend.

At 8.30 pm the Prado returned and the workers told Mr.  Chimambira that he must leave with his men.  Eventually at 9.30 pm Chimambira left and said he would be back.

Next day at approximately 9 am Chimambira arrived back.  The workers surrounded their group of 10 people and told them to leave. 

I phoned Chief Inspector Manika who said he would come out.  After an hour there was still no sign of him so I phoned him again to say that the situation was deteriorating and he needed to come soon.  I then went to the Chegutu police station and spoke to police officers there saying the situation was not looking good as other people from around the area had also arrived and the situation was turning ugly as they were saying that there should be no more farm invasions.

I was told that police had gone out to the farm.

In the interim the various people that had arrived from elsewhere as well and they and the workers told the invaders to get onto 2 pickups so that they could be taken off the farm and out of the situation in order to avoid violence.  This was duly done. 

Eventually 3 policemen arrived being transported by Chimambira.  They were 2 plain clothes police by the name of Chengeta and Mapotsa and Sergeant Machoda.  There was a long confab before they eventually left saying they would be back.

At 4 pm the police arrived back fully armed.  My wife was driving along the road and overtook them.  They came to my house which is on the other side of the farm and Inspector Zengeni came to say that he was looking for someone who had assaulted someone this morning. 

My wife asked who it was and they said that they did not know.  He then wanted to know where our workers lived and where our foreman lived.

She asked why they were sending so many people to arrest one person when in June with the abduction and beating of her parents and husband police refused to come out.  She was told that it was not her duty to ask questions as she must assist the police.

Inspector Zengeni unbuckled his side arm pistol and threatened to arrest her.  My wife told them that they must arrest her if they wanted to.  They then got into the vehicle and left to go to the main house.

My sister-in-law was at the main house.  The police wanted to know who the owner of the farm was and where Bruce Campbell and Martin Joubert were.  Chimambira then arrived back. 

They then picked up one of the workers and drove off.”

Shortly after this release we received another: - “We have just heard that 7 of our workers have been arrested by police and some of them assaulted.”

So, in spite of our new power sharing government, nothing has changed.  The thefts and looting continue.  We have spoken on the telephone with Ben Freeth this morning.  For someone in his situation he remains remarkably cheerful.  His telephone number is +263 912 241477.

The following is what Ben Freeth sent out at 4.31 a.m. on 7 April 2009: -

“Dear all,

Thank you for your prayers.  On the face of it you may wonder whether they are being answered or not.  I will give you a brief synopsis of today:

We managed to leave Mike and Angela’s house this morning despite invaders all around and a small blockade of cut trees on the driveway going out to the main road.  On leaving though “Landmine” gave his name as “Landmine Shamuyarira” and told us that the place was now his as he has the offer letter for Minister Nathan Shamuyarira.   

Angela and Cath tried to go back a little later to sort out a wound on the old horse that lives in the garden and give him water as well as get the cat.  They also needed to check the small herd of “house” dairy cows as they haven’t been able to be milked for a few days due the invaders stopping the workers from being allowed to work. 

Cath got out of the car to remove the blockade of branches and “Landmine” the main invader tried to grab the car keys and get them both out of the car.  They were denied access to the house.

At the police station the police did not want to take a report regarding this situation.  We had our lawyer, David Drury there, and they eventually took the report after considerable discussion.  We spent the next 7 hours at the police station but police never came out to Mount Carmel to allow us to get to the house despite numerous requests.  For all we know the house is being looted.  They smashed the kitchen door lock a few nights ago and we have not been able to replace the lock.  Police saw the smashed lock but “Landmine” was never arrested. They have now got total control to smash the rest of the locks and take what they like.

Bruce managed to get one of the workers, Sinos, who was badly beaten up by the invaders a couple of days ago, x-rayed.  It has transpired that he has a badly fractured skull.

“Landmine” and the gang that beat Sinos, were at the police station 4 times in the 7 hours that we were there.  They walk in at will and appear to command considerable power with the police.  We asked that they be arrested but police are clearly in collusion with them.

As a result of these beatings and police arrests of the workers, many of the other workers remain in hiding or simply just sleeping rough in the bush.  

I asked the police Sergeant doing the case regarding the arrest of our workers what “Landmines” real name was.  He told me to get me to get it from “Landmine.”  When I asked “Landmine” his real name [in the Sergeants presence] he refused to give it to me.  I was told to get it from the police superiors.  Assistant Inspector Sasa refused to give it to me as it was a “police matter.”  Inspector Zengeni said I was “provoking him.”  Chief Inspector Manika, despite him being on the phone with “Landmine” on a number of occasions, told our lawyer that he does not know his name but will find out.  On the 4 occasions that “Landmine” was there that afternoon he somehow failed to find out!    

Towards the end of the afternoon I was asked to get Martin Joubert to the police station as they just wanted to record a statement from him.  When he arrived they said that they wanted to charge him for kidnapping! [a totally false charge].  They started recording a statement which was done by the light of a cell phone into the night as they had no candles.

They have now put Martin into jail with the other workers.

Dave Drury managed to get private access to some of our workers who were in jail on similar charges.  They were not being brought to court and were being illegally incarcerated beyond the 48 hour limit.  This was pointed out to Chief Inspector Manika but he did not let them out of custody.

The workers showed how they were tortured by police when having statements extracted from them.  They were beaten using a heavy electrical cable.  Dave saw the cable and the welts from the beating.

We also got information that having chased all the guards away, “Landmine”  is now taking car loads of mangos out in the maroon Prado that he drives and selling them at the market. 

On leaving the police I went out to try to get to Mike and Angela’s house on foot in the dark with a friend.  Bruce had told Chief Inspector Manika that we were going to try to sleep at the house to stop any looting that might be taking place.  The Chief Inspector said that he thought this would be fine.

On getting to within 100 yards of the house we were ambushed by some invaders who were waiting for us.  They fired stones with catapults.

We had to run for it while stones whistled past our ears.  My friend went down when a big rock hit his leg but he was up in a flash and somehow avoided capture.  He went down again when he leapt the trees and branches blocking the road and he is quite grazed up.  It was a great mercy that we avoided capture because another cracked skull, 50 yards from where they cracked mine 9 month ago, would not have been good.  

So today has been another difficult one.  At this stage we are quiet at our house though; so we are thankful for that.  The answer to prayer is that despite all this and virtually no sleep for several nights and hardly any food, we are not discouraged.  It is a hard time but I know God is with us and I know that this lack of discouragement has to be from God!

Please keep praying,

With love,

Ben.”

It is now five weeks since we went into the transitional government and I think the most frequently asked question that I hear is “Why are you still in there”.

That is not an easy question to answer but let me have a go at it here.  Our objectives, as set out in 1999 when we launched the MDC in Harare were quite simple.  We set ourselves the goal of bringing in a new democratic dispensation, which would transform the country into a caring, productive and prosperous nation.  We agreed that this goal would be secured by democratic, peaceful and lawful means.

In 2006 when it became clear that normal democratic action would not secure these goals, we decided to change the road map slightly.  We agreed that we would strive to achieve change through a five-stage process: democratic resistance; negotiations; transitional regime; new constitution and then democratic elections.  In our view we have completed phases one and two and are now engaged in phase three with the pathway to the completion of phase four about to start.

We had no illusions about setting up a transitional regime with Zanu PF and the Mutambara group.  We knew the former were devious and totally opposed to the new arrangements - they had been forced to go this route by the March 2008 defeat at the polls and subsequent international and regional pressure. We also know that Zanu PF was unregenerate, had no ideas other than how to loot and steal and to use their positions in government to perpetuate their hold on power.  We knew it would be a struggle.

So when we thought we had got the best deal we were going to get, we stopped arguing and negotiating and simply went into the new partnership.  The Zanu hardliners were stunned and had to fall back onto their reserve position, which was to form a secret Cabal to replace the JOC and to continue the fight even while they participated in the new government.  So they sought to control key centers of power - the security ministries, the Reserve Bank, the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney Generals Office and the Public Service Commission.  Outside of these immediate structures they set up control and communication systems in the Police, the Judiciary, the Army and in many other key areas of civic life.

They carefully manipulated the whole system to ensure that all the Parastatals and State Controlled enterprises were controlled by Zanu PF elements - this was to ensure flows of resources and the use of patronage to maintain political controls.  Once the new administration was in place they set about trying to limit its effectiveness and control and its degree of influence.  The spat between Webster Shamu and Nelson Chamisa over the control of Tel One and Net One - both substantial cash cows, was and is about this.  The continuing battle to maintain their total control over the governors, permanent secretaries and key posts is all about this secret war.

The abductions, arbitrary arrests and the unsubstantiated allegations of treason, guerilla activities including recruitment and training in Botswana, are all about this.  The farm invasions and the theft of private property and the flaunting of the rule of law as a political weapon of control, is all about this.  Zanu PF has no interest whatsoever in “fixing” the problems of Zimbabwe.  They know that, come what may, the international community (mainly the USA and Europe) will feed the people and thus prevent the humanitarian crisis from spilling over into instability and violence.

They feel confident they can subsist on what is left of the economy and maintain their lavish lifestyles.  They also feel confident that they can control the process leading up to any future elections and in the process regain control of government.  In all of this, President, Mugabe, is an essential stage prop - and will be disposed of as soon as the power base of Zanu PF is secured and alternative leadership established.

The past five weeks say it all.  Where the MDC has control - health, education and finance, substantial, even dramatic progress has been made. Where Zanu PF has control there has either been little progress or we have regressed - the media, the Judiciary and the rule of law, agriculture and land reform.  Only the Reserve Bank has been neutralized as a center of power - the Ministry of Finance has cut off its funding and restricted its activities and influence.  This is hurting the flow of resources to the clandestine Cabal of criminals in Zanu PF but they are developing alternative sources of funds and using their accumulated resources to support their activities.

Whoever imagined that this was going to be anything but a struggle, was deceiving themselves.  We knew that from day one.  But this process is the only one in town if you reject, as we have, any thought of an armed struggle to eliminate and defeat this tyranny.  Tyrants do not give up power without a fight and we are no different except that we chose not to use armed conflict to change the situation in Zimbabwe.  This is the toughest route.  It is the best for the country and is the only principled way to achieve change by peaceful, democratic and legal means.

So we see ourselves doing the best that we can in the circumstances.  We are pursuing three goals for this phase: stabilise the situation and try to restore some semblance of decency to the way people live; write a new national constitution which reflects the popular will and will lay the foundations for a new society; and prepare for the next elections by rebuilding the MDC as a political party; and keeping the people informed of what is happening and why there is little progress in some sectors.

I think we can do all of these three things while we fight to make the transitional government work.  If we can hold onto the beachhead where we landed in this invasion, we will be halfway there.  If we can actually make progress during the drive inland, then we can do what we have to do to ensure V Day in 2011.  Perhaps then and only then will we be able to create the Zimbabwe we all want.  Abandoning the beachhead is just what the criminal Cabal wants, we are not going to give it to them.  We are their worst nightmare, we will not quit, and we will not give up the fight until we have secured our goal of a free, democratic and just State.

I am reminded of what Habakkuk wrote 2600 years ago in the Middle East.  He said: “Woe to him who piles up stolen goods, Woe to him who makes himself wealthy by extortion.  Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain, who have plotted to ruin many lives.  Woe to him who builds a city by bloodshed.”
To these Habakkuk promises, “Your debtors will suddenly arise and make you tremble, then you will become their victim.”
As for us Habakkuk states, “Though it linger, wait for it, it will certainly come and will not delay.  I heard and my heart pounded, decay crept into my bones, yet I will wait for the day of calamity to come upon the nation invading us.  The Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer and enables me to go on the heights.”

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 29th March 2009